The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 209: He also relayed the story of why there were now two open spots.
He also relayed the story of why there were now two open spots. While the lunch group found the disregard for Gary’s warnings telling and the repercussions expected, they also delighted in the potentially salacious affair. Like him they were puzzled as to how training and affair paired together. He told them he would keep them apprised should anything else come of it.
After work James returned to the club and took his place with the others. He and Terry were the last to arrive. It was just the four of them and Gary looked slightly disappointed. “I asked,” James said feeling compelled to say something. “No takers.”
Gary nodded. Gary announced the two open spots to the rest of the group. One of the women nodded. It was the brunette who was as grateful as he was that they weren’t the worse.
“I might know a couple of people I can ask. They are members but they generally stick to golf.”
Gary brightened visibly and quite enthusiastically took them through their warm ups. This time James knew what to expect and was ready when Garry’s whistle blew. As were the others. While they spaced themselves out, the four of them more or less moved around the track in a block, their walking and running speeds more or less compatible. James wondered if it was because they were all naturally a similar speed or if everyone was feeling more companionable than competitive.
They walked, they ran and then they walked again. The cycle ran until Gary blew the whistle to stop. Then they stretched and were sent on their way. Again, James left the building alone. He was tempted by the drive through, but convinced himself to head home instead. Dinner was frozen raviolis from a bag and the fact that most of them made it from the water to his bowl without exploding in the water made him count it a success.
The marathon training was soon incorporated into his routine. Just like with the swimming, James could feel his body adapting to new patterns. He offset the physical with forays deeper into literature. He continued to delve into Shakespeare and in time found various phrases sticking in his mind. He always envied his friend the ability to quote words from great literature while his quotes all came from movies, pop songs and the occasional cartoon. Now James was confident he could add a few Shakespearean quotes to a conversation, should such a conversation ever occur.
James wasn’t quite certain what sort of occasion would call for the quotes. It seemed to be something that occasionally cropped up in college when trying to impress a smart and beautiful coed. It was of less useful in his job as a midlevel accountant. It was of no use at the club where he either spend his time alone and under water or trying to reserve enough breath to run.
Still as with the swimming and running, he pressed on. James even found himself on a University website looking at some of the suggested reading materials for literature classes. While still occupied with Shakespeare, he could easily see himself branching out and James made a list of potential authors to investigate when he was done with the Bard. James smiled as he thought of his dream. He somehow suspected his subconscious hadn’t meant for him to take the library so literally.
Ten til Midnight 